Gamer Sollux and Ginger Karkat, fall in love!
by hawkin44
Summary: Humanstuck AU, romantic fluff. Sollux is a disgruntled game-store employee until he meets Karkat and falls in love. A short one-shot I did a while ago, but please feel free to leave a review!


I.

"_I love video games_." Sollux thought as he put on the ugly red jacket that made up his work uniform. Sollux glanced around the dingy break room, silently reminding himself why he kept this awful job. "_Do it for the twenty percent discount." _Sollux mentally chanted. Making barely above minimum wage, that discount was the only thing that allowed him to continue his gaming habits on his tight income.

Sollux stared into the mirror that allowed employees to check their uniforms before work. The blonde quills of his bangs hung down almost to his eyes. A haircut was not acceptable when he needed every dollar for that big new shooter coming out soon. Sollux noticed that a ring of dark skin had almost completely circled his eyes from hundreds of sleepless nights working midnight releases. They had only just moved him to the opening shift today so he could get more sleep. He glanced down at his watch and saw that his time for quiet reflection was over; it was time to open the store.

II.

Several people were already waiting at the door as Sollux opened it. They were the hard-cores, waiting every day for a new game that they could wring for even a few achievement points. Sol didn't mind them so much, he even liked to pretend that they were pro-gamers; MLG's practicing for tournaments to win huge cash prizes. Sollux rang up their purchases, silently referring to them all with the nicknames he had invented. There were the 'Four Swords', a group of four friends who only seemed to play Zelda games. They were in their usual spot at the back of the store, once again arguing about the quality of handheld Zelda games. 'Big Tony', a hulking middle aged man with a Serbian accent was browsing the used bin again. Sollux liked to pretend that he was always looking for games that reminded him of his childhood in a foreign country. Other made up names and familiar faces crept slowly by with the hands on the clock. Just as Sollux was just getting ready to close for lunch a middle aged woman marched in, pulling an elementary school aged boy by the hand.

Instead of going to the game racks to browse she marched straight up to the counter. Sollux knew her type, and despised them. Idiot parents who know nothing about games trying to constrict what their children play. Just as expected, she greeted him curtly and with obvious disdain in her voice.

"Excuse me young man." Sollux stopped shuffling the games he was sorting and turned to her, tempted to tell her that he was twenty-two, and by no means a young man.

Instead he put on a smile, "Yes ma'am, how may I help you?"

"Today is my son's birthday and I'd like to get him a game as a gift, do you have anything suitable for someone his age?"

"_Dumber than I thought."_ Sollux thought. But the kid looked competent, wearing a Final Fantasy IX shirt and a DS poking out of his pocket. Sollux addressed the boy, "We have games of all ratings, what system were you looking to buy for?"

"Well, I have my DS, and a 36- " "A Gameboy and a Play-Station." The woman interrupted her own son, with inaccurate information nonetheless.

"-and a PC." The boy slipped in afterwards, obviously used to this type of situation.

"Well we have a code for this great game that you can get off the XBLA-" Sollux took satisfaction from the woman's look of confusion when he used the acronym for X-box live arcade. "- it's called 'Bastion'. It's an rpg with some of the best narrative I've ever seen in a game."

The mothers face visibly paled at the use of terms like rpg and narrative, but the boy looked excited enough. Sollux turned and was pulling the code-card off the display when he heard the lady ask, "How about this one?"

Sollux spun back to see her checking out the display in front of the counter that held the mass produced movie games. The crappiest of titles based on recently vomited Hollywood garbage in an attempt to make fast money from suckers like this lady.

Sollux sighed, preparing to explain why a true game lover wouldn't want what she had picked up.

"You don't want that, it's a flaming piece of shit."

Woman, boy, and employee turned in unison towards the new voice.

A short red-head about Sollux's age was standing a few feet behind the mother and son with a stern look on his face. Sollux had not even heard the door open, had he been here this whole time?

"Excuse ME!?" the woman burst, "my SON is right THERE! Watch your mouth!"

"Eh, he's heard worse on the playground." The new guy shrugged, "But seriously, that game is fucking awful, don't torture your kid with it."

Obviously not getting anywhere with direct confrontation, the livid parent spun on her heels to Sollux. "Aren't you going to kick him out!? Do something!"

"Ma'am swearing is not against our company policy, there is nothing I can do." Sollux barely managed to say without laughing.

"Well! We will just take our business to a store with better morals then, won't we?" she stated with conviction and began to root through her purse.

The ginger quickly pushed past her to the counter, which only brought a new round of mumbles from her. "Give me the card, quick!" he demanded, just above a whisper.

Sollux glanced down at the card for Bastion, forgotten in his hands.

"Oh fuck, just, here!" The red-head pulled out his wallet and in his rush threw several times the cost of the game in cash onto the counter. Sollux was confused, but handed him the card.

The stranger bent down and handed it to the boy who was still waiting at the counter. "Here you go kid, happy birthday." The boy barely had time to slip it into his pocket and mouth his thanks before his mom was pulling him out the door, having finally found her car keys.

After the dinging that signaled their departure, Sollux was compelled to ask the guy why he did it.

"My parents were like that when I was a kid too, fucking nauseating. I started playing games to escape their bullshit actually. You picked a good game for him though, and pretty damn quickly. A serious story so he would feel like an adult, but no real swearing or violence, and a goofy enough art style his parents wouldn't turn it down. My name is Karkat by the way, I come in a lot but I don't think you usually work when I do."

"Yeah, I just started working the day shift today. I'm Sollux, nice to meet you." They shook hands over the counter, Sollux's darker hand slightly dwarfing Karkat's pale one. "I can't let you pay for that game though, it was too cool of you to buy that for him." Sollux purposely left out that he would have to pay for it later, setting his purchase of Halo back a week or so.

"Holy shit, thanks!" Karkat began stuffing his money haphazardly back into his wallet. "So are you excited for Halo 4 too or what!?"

III.

It had been two weeks since Sollux had met Karkat, when they had spent hours talking about their favorite games and upcoming releases. Karkat had been in quite a few times since then, browsing for games but not really buying anything. He always stopped by the counter and chatted though, sometimes for over an hour. Sollux had taken notice of him, always making sure to pay attention when he came in. Karkat was stubborn, always wearing the same outfit of jeans and a long sleeve black or grey undershirt with a t-shirt depicting his favorite games on top. He would get into long debates with the other customers over games, but even though he practically swore more than he argued he would often convince others to his way of thinking. He even had a cute way of looking at the games. When looking at a shelf he would put his hands in his back pockets and cock his hip to one side, leaning in closely to stare at the cases with his typical grumpy look. Watching and talking to Karkat had a way of making Sollux's long shifts seem short.

Today though, something was different. Karkat was standing straight up while looking at the games, more rigid than usual. His eyes kept flicking over his shoulder towards the counter, and Sollux soon stopped staring, thinking Karkat might be catching onto his observations. Soon enough however, Karkat approached the counter, looking less upset than normal, which was oddly even worse than looking more upset for him.

"Hey Sol, how's it going?"

"The usual Karkat, are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah…" Karkat and Sollux silently suffered their first awkward pause in conversation since their meeting. "I was wondering if you wanted to come to my apartment tonight to co-op some Halo? I know how excited you are to play."

Sollux hadn't been so thrilled in a long time. "Of course! I'll be done here by six and I'll come right over."

Karkat's relief was instantly visible; his arms crossing his chest and hip bending back out into his typical pose. "Fuckin' cool, here's the address…"

IV.

Sollux had barely knocked when Karkat opened the door. His brown-red hair was neater than normal, combed to lie in neat layers. As they stepped inside, Sollux couldn't help but notice how un-alike their apartments were. Sollux's own place being a mess of wires and spare computer parts for the computers he builds, strewn almost violently across every available surface. Karkat's however was tidy, littered with games sure, but even they were still piled in an orderly fashion.

Karkat quickly directed Sol to the small living room's couch, which sat directly across from a large entertainment system. Soon enough they started up the game. Together they reveled in the experience that can only come from sharing your favorite game with a good friend.

Mission after mission they played through the game. Sollux was obviously the better gamer, but he would often let Karkat finish off the bigger enemies to make him feel better. Whenever he died, Karkat would flip out, but Sollux would just smile at him and poke fun for being a bad player. Karkat eventually stopped getting mad, purposely trying to get the edge over Sollux. He started going for the better weapons first, strategically kill stealing, and actually taking cover to die less. Nearing the final mission, they sat tightly together, palms sweaty as they raced for the highest final kill count.

"FUCK!" Karkat shouted as they completed the game, Sollux barely taking the lead. "I thought for sure the final boss would be worth more than that!"

"Oh shit, it's three in the morning already…" Sollux didn't want to leave. He wanted to spend as much time as possible with the kind hearted fiery boy. Sol was suddenly aware of how close they were sitting.

Their shoulders touching, Karkat looked away before saying, "You could always stay here if you want. It's not like you have to fuckin' work or anything tomorrow."

Sollux leaned in closely and grinned, "Sounds good! Too bad you only have one bed." Then he kissed the crabby boy.


End file.
